Join HRM’s Art Challenge!
People from around the world have been spending their time in self-quarantine by recreating iconic paintings with anything they can find at home. The Hudson River Museum’s staff and docents have joined in on the fun and have recreated favorite works from the permanent collection and current exhibitions. Here’s a selection of recreations, with more being added each week.
We invite you to take part! Create your own #IsolationCreation inspired by one of our works, then share on Instagram and tag us @HudsonRiverMuseum.
HRM Docent David Lucas rose to our art challenge with this recreation of one of Derrick Adams’ portraits from his We Came to Party and Plan series, which is part of Derrick Adams: Buoyant exhibition.
Image: Derrick Adams (American, born 1970). We Came to Party and Plan 31, 2019. Fabric on paper collage, acrylic paint, and pencil on paper, 24 × 18 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Luxembourg & Dayan, New York/London, and Salon 94, New York.
HRM Assistant Director of Finance and Human Resources Marion Freedman recreates a portrait of an accountant by Alice Neel. Image: Alice Neel (American, 1900–1984). The Accountant (Marvin), 1981. Color lithograph. Gift of Richard Haas, 1997 (97.9.4). Art © The Estate of Alice Neel.
HRM Visitor Services Associate Kristen Westerduin was inspired by the patrician portrait of Mrs. Samuel Untermyer, who holds court in our historic home of Glenview. Mrs. Untermyer was the mistress of Greystone (now known as Untermyer Park and Gardens), one of the grandest estates in Yonkers at the time. She was one of a small group of women who transformed the New York Philharmonic, was a President of the American Poetry Society, a patron of artists and dancers in New York, and supported women’s suffrage. Left: James Jebusa Shannon (American, 1862–1923). Portrait of Mrs. Samuel Untermyer, 1906. Oil on canvas. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Peter Carmel, 1973 (73.18).
HRM Director and CEO Masha Turchinsky recreated this work by Joseph Cornell, an influential artist best known for his Surrealist assemblage works housed in shallow wooden boxes. Although at first sight it may appear that she Photoshopped herself into the image, this box was made in her home, in homage to the great artist. Image: Joseph Cornell (American, 1903–1972). Untitled (Hôtel de l’Etoil), ca. 1953–62. Mixed media collage construction. Gift of the C & B Foundation, 1975 (75.22.2). Art © The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY.
HRM Bookkeeper and Finance Assistant Cathy Dattilo was inspired by this beautiful still life by Albert Herter. The daffodils on the right come from her backyard. Image: Albert Herter (American, 1871–1956). Still Life with Flowers and Fruit, ca. 1910. Oil on board. Gift of Mrs. Harriet C. Herter, 1981 (81.6).
HRM Marketing and Communications Manager Jen McCaffery recreated this image of a female basketball player from the turn of the twentieth century. Although women played basketball soon after it was invented in 1892, the casual pose of this player could have been considered risqué. Today, not so much. Image: Unknown artist. Pillow Top with Woman Basketball Player, ca. 1900. Cotton, printed by S. M. Schwab Jr. & Co., New York, NY. Gift of Henry S. Hacker, 1995 (95.8.005).
HRM Docent Susan Kutzin enlisted her family (and a few stuffed animals) to assist with this inspired recreation of a painting that hangs in our historic home, Glenview. Image: George W. Wright (American, 1850–1914). A Terrible Bore, 1899. Oil on canvas. Gift of Willliam H. and Abigail Booth Gerdts, 2004 (2004.01).
HRM Curatorial Chair Laura Vookles has been doing a lot of research on tobacco cards and late nineteenth-century depictions of women, so she chose this actress card of Elsie Gerome “as a Cowgirl” by B. J. Falk, for her #ArtChallenge. She points out that the Police Gazette had this to say about Gerome (stage name Fannie Dart) in 1889: she “has been connected with various operette and burlesque companies, and is known as an actress of dash and ability. Miss Gerome is especially captivating in rollicking topical songs, and at the same time looks well in the artistic negligee of tights.”
Artist Samer Akroush (@ridikkuluz) and his mom recreated Rigoberto Torres’ Keon and Jeanine, which Torres made in 1995 with the help of students from Yonkers Public Schools. Image: Rigoberto Torres (American, b. Puerto Rico, 1964). Keon and Jeanine, 1995. Painted plaster. Museum Commission, 1995 (1995-Torres-2).
HRM Deputy Director Samantha Hoover recreated this 1885 painting by John White Alexander, Azalea (Portrait of Helen Abbe Howson). Azaleas stood for temperance in the language of the Victorians, and it’s not clear if the title refers to the flowers or the sitter.
Image: John White Alexander (American, 1856–1915). Azalea (Portrait of Helen Abbe Howson), 1885. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. Gertrude Farnham Howson, 1974 (74.19.6).
HRM Docent Eva Bartalos recreates a portrait of Frida Kahlo. The work is from artist Raul Caracoza’s set of serigraphs in different colors of the iconic Mexican artist. Image: Raul Caracoza (American, b. 1980). Young Frida (Green), 2006. Serigraph (edition of 40). Gift of Henry S. Hacker, by exchange, 2019 (2019.11).
Beautiful Mount Hook in Rockland County, one of the highest peaks in the Palisades, was the inspiration for this drawing by artist Don Nice and for this recreation by Marc Taylor, Manager of Planetarium and Science Programs. Image: Don Nice (American, 1932–2019), Mt. Hook (detail), 1999. Watercolor on paper. Gift of the Artist, 2000 (2000.11).
